Who would have ever thought I would enjoy living in a RV Park? That was not remotely part of the plan when we started this adventure almost 8 months ago. But circumstances - part-time job, lack of RV parks or other parking options in central Portland, availability, etc - landed us here on and off for the majority of the last 8 months. Our little spot (#23) at Roamer's Rest is tucked back in a tree-filled corner of the park with a fair amount of privacy (and lots of birds visiting our feeders!) If you ignore the construction of the big apartment complex across the little forest area and the occasional monster truck revving from the auto repair shop behind us, it's downright idyllic! The park is also right on the Tualatin River with a nice area for Inga to play ball. There's also great access for kayaking on the river.

BUT, all good things must come to an end. We found out that the park is pretty much booked all summer (and our little spot is reserved starting June 1st through November) so it's time to find a new spot. We will be traveling quite a bit over the summer on weekends working on our fire lookout project and then (hopefully) a big road trip back to MI in August. But that leaves quite a few weeks to figure out. One of the great things about this crazy full-time Airstream adventure is learning to remain flexible and keep an open mind on lodging options.

I swear we didn’t choose our first RV park based solely on the name – but it didn’t hurt! Roamer’s Rest is a mid-sized RV park in Tualatin, Oregon, about 15 miles south of Portland. Situated between Highway 99W (aka the road to wine country) and the Tualatin River, it’s a surprisingly quiet and mellow spot. We didn’t realize it would be such a challenge to find a spot to park for the first couple months of Airstream life. There aren’t very many RV parks in the Portland metro area and many of them were either fully booked or had a bazillion rules and regulations that would not allow for our lovely Miss Inga (our sweet, mellow, 12 year old Siberian Husky). There’s also a pretty strict time limit on most RV park residencies (which varies by county). Multnomah County only allows a 30 day stay whereas Washington County allows 90 days.

inga along the tualatin

For our intial stay, we wanted to do a month somewhere so we could shake out the nuts and bolts of living full-time in the Airstream. We didn’t want to have to worry about having to find a place to ‘dump’ our tanks every week, so the full service RV park was the way to go. Monthly rates are surprisingly affordable, especially when compared to nightly rates at most campgrounds. Roamer’s Rest definitely adheres to the 90 day rule and encourages shorter stays, but there’s a nice mix of daily, weekly and monthly residents.

old and new side by side

kayaking on the tualatin

Our other main requirement was ‘location, location, location.’ I work part-time at Victory Academy, a private school for kids impacted by Autism in Wilsonville. On a good day, it’s a solid 30-45 minute commute from NE Portland. I wanted to be a little closer to work since we were ramping up for our huge fundraiser and I was commuting more days than normal. Roamer’s Rest is a lovely 15 minute drive to Victory through gorgeous farmland, which has been a lovely bonus. We are also a five minute walk to river access and we were able to take our inflatable kayak for a little trip on the Tualatin River one sunny day after work. Finally, as much as I am a Portland city girl at heart, one of the fun things about Airstream life is treating each location like a vacation destination. I’m not sure I could live in the burbs, but it’s great to visit cute downtown Sherwood with it’s mix of wine bars, art galleries and small town charm. And not too far down the road is Newburg, another great little town--where we had a delicious dinner for my birthday at Ruddick/Wood. Knowing you are only going to be in a spot for a month or so is great motivation to explore what you may normally consider a ‘not-so-exciting’ area.